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AAPL178.42-1.19%
TSLA168.90+2.62%
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TF
tf/beginners
523
tf/beginners•Posted by u/swing_king••1 min read

How to start trading stocks with zero experience — what I wish I knew 3 years ago

Three years ago I opened a Robinhood account, deposited $500, and started buying random stocks based on Reddit tips. I lost $300 in the first month. Fast forward to today and I'm consistently profitable — not rich, but I make about $800-1,200/month on a $30k account.

Here's the honest roadmap I wish someone had given me:

  1. Month 1-2: Don't trade at all. Open a brokerage account, deposit money, but just WATCH. Learn to read charts, understand what moves stocks, follow the market daily.
  2. Month 3-4: Start buying small positions in ETFs (SPY, QQQ) to get comfortable with the mechanics. No individual stocks yet.
  3. Month 5-6: Start analyzing individual stocks. Learn to read earnings reports, understand P/E ratios, find support/resistance levels. Paper trade your picks.
  4. Month 7+: Start trading individual stocks with real money. Small positions (1-2% of account per trade). Keep a journal of EVERY trade.

The most important thing: you will lose money at first. Budget for it. Treat it as education cost. The people who succeed are the ones who survive the learning curve without going broke.

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trader_mike·edited

This is the best beginner advice I've seen on this forum. Especially the "just watch for 2 months" part. So many people deposit money and immediately start gambling. Understanding market rhythm — how the open is volatile, how lunch hour is choppy, how power hour works — takes time.

234
chart_wizard·edited

The trade journal advice is underrated. I look back at my first 100 trades and I was making the same 3 mistakes over and over: averaging down on losers, selling winners too early, and trading during lunch when nothing happens. I would've caught that in week 2 if I'd been journaling.

167
algo_trader_42·edited

$800-1,200/month on $30k is a 2.7-4% monthly return. That's actually phenomenal if it's consistent. What's your strategy roughly? Momentum? Mean reversion? Breakouts?

89
swing_kingOP·edited

Mix of momentum and breakout trading. I scan for stocks with unusual volume that are breaking out of consolidation patterns on the daily chart. I take 3-5 trades per week, not per day. Patience is the biggest edge.

78